Seiichi Yukimura
Seiichi Yukimura (幸村精市 Yukimura Seiichi) is a 3rd year student and the captain of the Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku Chuu tennis team. He is one of the Three Demons (Sannin Bakemono)/Rikkai Dai's Big Three along with Vice-Captain Genichirō Sanada and Renji Yanagi, and is known as the 'Child of God.' Background Yukimura Seiichi is the team captain of Rikkai Dai Tennis Club. He is known as one of the Big Three, with the other two being Sanada Genichirō (The Emperor) and Yanagi Renji (The Master). Yukimura is one of the characters mentioned and shown earlier on in the series, but does not show his true strength until near the end of the original series. He had been a Rikkai Dai regular since his first year along with Yanagi and Sanada. Yukimura is known as "The Child of God" due to his play style and the fact that he has never lost or dropped a single game before his Nationals Finals match against Echizen Ryoma. He is hospitalized for most of the season due to an illness that is similar to Guillain-Barré Syndrome Rikkai Question Corner Part 6, a neurological disease that causes paralysis in the limbs. He had to undergo a surgery with only a fifty percent survival rate in order to cure it; nonetheless, he took the chance and survived. Appearance Despite his strength, he has a very calm and frail appearance. He has chin-length navy blue wavy hair and brown eyes (violet or blue depending on how you look at it in the anime) with a fair complexion. Yukimura is depicted as fairly tall although not as tall as teammates Sanada and Yanagi. Yukimura's Rikkai Dai jersey is always kept hanging on his shoulders and he is never shown having his arms through his sleeves, only having it over his shoulders almost like a cape. Also, when on and around the courts, he is always seen wearing a headband (white in the manga, green in the anime). At the U-17 Camp in New Prince of Tennis. Yukimura has his U-17 Camp Jersey hang over his shoulders on his back like he did with his Rikkai Dai jersey. While also serious, Yukimura smiles considerably more frequently than Sanada. Personality Yukimura is known as one of the of Three Demons and as The Child Of God or The Demigod in anime due to his strength and invincibility on the tennis court. Outside the court, Yukimura is a soft spoken and kind individual, if still proud and dignified. He also exhibits a calm, quiet and observant personality. He's rarely taken by surprise. However, once he steps inside the court he demonstrates strong willpower and a rather stern, brutally honest attitude. He is very strict with his team and refuses to lose as both a captain and a player. Sometimes, he likes to tease people he is close to such as Sanada, the two being best friends since the age of four after the two met at a tennis club. Befitting of being a representative of Rikkai Dai and captain of its national winning tennis team, Yukimura believes in and strives after victory in tennis. However, Yukimura does not share Sanada's philosophy in taking on and defeating his opponents in a head-to-head battle, admitting that he himself 'is not pure enough' to play such tennis. After his defeat against Ryoma, he begins to play tennis for fun and not solely for winning. Yukimura expected to have a fun match with Sanada during the U-17 camp, but changed his mind after seeing how serious Sanada was. As affirmed in his overcoming his yips in his Pre-World Cup doubles match, Yukimura acknowledges that, unlike Ryoma, he cannot enjoy tennis for its own sake, and instead, he finds happiness in tennis in being stronger than everyone else. Many readers compare Seiichi to Fuji as they both exhibit a quiet and gentle personality outside the courts but once inside the courts both become serious and darker. Much like his U-17 Camp roommates Fuji Shusuke and Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Yukimura has a big interest in gardening. This is shown as he, Shiraishi and Fuji observe the plants in their room. Also, shortly after the Nationals, Yukimura invited Shiraishi to visit the Rikkai Dai gardening club. History ::See: Seiichi Yukimura/History Tennis Record U-17 Camp Results Playing Style and Techniques Yukimura is an All-Rounder. Yukimura's tennis consists of playing so formidably against his opponents and their shots that they lose their five senses one by one until they ultimately succumb to yips and are unable to further compete. Volk of Germany explains that Yukimura's play produces a perfect appearance and shows no openings in his play, which leads his opponents experiencing doubt that increases and completely undermines their motivation and self-confidence until they are seized by yips. For this, Yukimura's tennis style has been described to thrust his opponents down to the bottom of an abyss PairPuri Volume 5. Yukimura's formidable prowess is such that he returned virtually all of the copied and personal special techniques that Ryoma Echizen and Sanada employed in their matches against him, and Yukimura completely overwhelmed and induced yips into Kintarō Tōyama while still wearing his Rikkai Dai jersey on his shoulders. Yukimura is also skilled in using the butt of his racquet to return difficult shots such as Sanada's string-breaking Rai and Volk's powerful vortex spinning Wirbel Taufe. Yukimura is given the title "Child of God" for his skills and prowess and was an unbeaten middle schooler who didn't even drop a single game until his Nationals match and loss against Ryoma Echizen. Yukimura is also formidable even without taking his opponents' senses, as seen when Yukimura continues to overpower Sanada in their tie-break scored match 7-1 at the U-17 camp despite Sanada momentarily overcoming Yukimura's tennis-induced yips earlier. Further testaments of Yukimura's prowess are Yukimura being the only middle-schooler officially selected as the U-17 2nd String 20 Players to challenge the returning Foreign Expedition Team, which saw him defeat and win the U-17 All-Japan representative No. 11 pin from Fuwa Tetsuhito. Yukimura also possesses considerable resolve that even Volk acknowledged, as seen in their Pre-World Cup Exhibition doubles match when Yukimura overcame being afflicted with yips on his own without utilizing the Pinnacle of Perfection. Though primarily a singles player, Yukimura can also play and is proven in doubles. He has successfully partnered Sanada for Rikkai Dai and in the World Cup Group League, and in Japan's match against Germany in the Pre-World Cup Exhibition, Yukimura partnered with Tokugawa made a considerable pair whose Ability Resonance made a significant showing against famous U-17 German captain and professional player Jürgen Borisovich Volk and world junior partner Frankensteiner, winning a substantially considerable 3 games against the German pair when everyone believed that the Germans would crush them. Yips Yukimura returns every opponent's shots no matter what. As he does this, he takes away the opponent's five senses, a phenomenon which Kintarō describes as "...like your body no longer wants to cross the net or move at all." This is due to the fact that his tennis places his opponent in a state known as the'' yips, where the user freezes up and simply cannot move. The Pinnacle of Perfection is one of the ways to overcome Yukimura's Yips as it was implied that Ryoma got all of his senses back after he doing so. In Yukimura's case, he overcame his yips in affirming his feelings and resolve of his happiness in tennis by being stronger than anyone else. In ''New Prince of Tennis, ''Yukimura has evolved the technique to instead put the opponent into a trance-like state where the opponent is dreaming that he is playing and scoring against Yukimura, when in reality the opponent is frozen and immobile on court for Yukimura's advantage. This was first demonstrated the match with Fuwa Tetsuhito who dreamed that he reversed and reflected Yukimura's technique, when in reality Fuwa laid asleep oncourt. Yukimura can also employ this technique in doubles, able to induce this trancelike yips in at least one of his doubles opponents. However, a disadvantage to the trancelike dream yips is that can be broken out of more easily compared to the original yips. 'Muga no Kyōchi(無我の境地, Muga no Kyōchi, trans. State of Self Actualization) Yukimura is one of a few player's who have achieved Muga no Kyōchi, a state in which the user naturally intakes all techniques he sees and can perfectly copy them. Yukimura has never used the ability on screen, but was instead listed as a user by Sanada. '''Howling (Ability Resonance) When playing doubles with Kazuya Tokugawa during the Pre-World Cup Exhibition Match against Germany, Yukimura's Yips and Tokugawa's Premonition resonated to create a new skill called Sixth Sense. The skill allows both of the players to foresee the opponent's actions before they occur, essentially precognitively knowing the plays of the opponent. U-17 Camp Stats Speed - 4: By no means is his speed slow, however because he has the ability to return any kind of shot, he doesn't need to rely on it. Power - 3.5: Since he's the type to sustain himself with accuracy, his power is only normal. More than just strong shots, he mainly attacks mentally Stamina - 3.5: Since he's only just returned after recovering from his terrible disease, his stamina is still unsteady. However, if he successfully strips you away of your senses, in no time at all the only one losing stamina will be the opponent. Mental - 6: With his smiling poker face, the opponent can never read his expressions. Because he has quite the skills to back it up, his Mental strength is strong. Technique - 6: With his terrifying accuracy, He has the technique to plunge his opponents into the depths of despair. Kurobe Memo: It's quite astonishing for him to understand how to use smallest of movements to achieve the greatest efficiency already for his age. When he is completely recovered from his terrible disease, I want him to try battling much more fiercely. Daily School Life *06:30 - Rises from bed, eats breakfast after watering his decorative plants *07:00 - Goes to school. Participates in morning practice and gives orders *08:15 - Arranges the tour to other schools with Sanada *08:30 - First Period: French *09:30 - Second Period: History; Modern European History *10:40 - Third Period: Art; Sculpture rough sketch *11:40 - Fourth Period: Modern Japanese *12:30 - Lunch break: Buys western-styled lunch form Umikaze (grilled scorpion fish) *13:00 - Waters the plants in the garden on the rooftop, takes a nap on the bench *13:30 - Fifth Period: Physical Education; Middle Distance Run *14:30 - Sixth Period: Calligraphy. Writes one character"忍" (nin: Patience/Restraint) *15:30 - Beautification committee meeting. Arranges a school-wide cleanup *16:15 - Club activity. Coaches the regulars *18:00 - Regular checkup at Kanai Sougou Hospital *19:30 - Returns home, eats dinner after taking a bath *20:30 - Looks over his younger sister's homework after she insists *21:15 - Sits together with his family in the living room *22:30 - Reads while he has Brahms on *22:45 - After recording what each player needs to focus on in the club notes, goes to sleep Note from Marui: So impressive! It was decorating the art room! But there was a rumor that you're not supposed to look into the eyes of the sculpture... Note from Sanada: Patience. That's not tarundoru. As expected of Yukimura. Yukimura, to celeberate your recovery, let me give you a new piece of calligraphy. Relationships Sanada Genichiro Sanada met Yukimura at a tennis club at the age of four. Since then, they have been very close friends. Sanada is unquestioningly loyal to Yukimura. Yukimura is one of the few people Sanada obeys. Kuranosuke Shiraishi & Shusuke Fuji Shiraishi and Yukimura are quite close to each other even if they are from different schools. They share many common things with each other especially when it comes to plants. Yukimura even invites Shiraishi to Rikkai's flower garden and they give each other tips and advice in caring for plants. In the U-17 camp, Shirashi, Fuji, and Yukimura are roommates and they get along well, sharing their interests in plants and bringing them to their room to share. Ryoma Echizen Ryoma was the first person to defeat Yukimura in a tennis match. Yukimura learns to have fun playing tennis after their match. Yukimura does not hold a grudge against Ryoma. Trivia :See: Trivia References Gallery ::See: Gallery Category:Characters Category:Tennis Player Category:Rikkaidai Tennis Club Member Category:Middle Schooler Category:3rd Year Middle School Category:U-17 Camp Category:All-Rounder Category:Right-Handed Category:Middle School Captain Category:Kanto Players Category:Kanagawa Players Category:Capable with Singles and Doubles Category:Coaches Category:World Cup Participants Category:Pre-World Cup Exhibition Participants Category:Group League Participants Category:March Births Category:A Blood Types Category:Pisces